Prelude
by Anne Nonymus
Summary: Hidden thoughts and secrets are revealed as the pieces are put in play for an event that will change the team forever.


**A/N: Hi, those who have put me on author alert and were expecting a Bones story, sorry. Don't worry, I'm not abandoning Young Mastermind, I just go where the plot bunnies take me, even if they do so with a blindfold on, and my hands behind my back, through what may turn out to be a wooded area.**

**This story is an experiment of sorts. Usually I have a good idea what will generally happen in the beginning and the end, the middle is what gets muddled. This time I don't know what's going to happen. I'll write as the chapters come to me and figure it out as I go along. **

**Wish me luck.**

**Disclaimer: Nope, never have and most likely will never own NCIS: LA or any of its characters.**

**I Can't Make You Love Me**

She flicked the off switch on her alarm clock just before it started to blare, her arm reaching out seconds before it went off and made contact just in time. The sound it made was an annoying half buzz, half mechanical quack that used to drive her buts. It was a hell of a sound to wake up to. She had it for four years, and it trained her to wake up at precisely 5:45 every single a.m.

Her thoughts wandered until it came to a night that Deeks came over to her place to check on her after she had gotten injured. He arrived with burgers and beer, staying around for a little while to watch TV with her. She noticed him looking around curiously, could feel him itching to wander around, poke through her stuff to get a better idea of who his partner was. To his credit, he stayed on the couch with her, knowing that it would aggravate her to no end, and since she was hurt, he was merciful enough to behave himself.

That is, until she had to go to the bathroom.

She warned him not to touch anything. He joked that even if he did, her place was such a colossal mess that she would never notice. Despite herself, she found the corners of her lips curl into an unwilling grin that she attempted to cover by scowling. There was no fooling Deeks though. His smile could have rivaled the cheshire cat in mischievousness. But he swore that he would be good, so she believed him. And she really had to pee.

When she returned from the bathroom, Deeks had vacated his place on the couch. She found him in her bedroom fiddling with her alarm clock.

"I thought you hated antiques?" he asked with a laugh, using his long arms to keep her alarm clock away from her. "Kens, this thing weighs a ton! It has dials, and flip up numbers, and a rusty aluminum casing...does it even have a radio? Where's the antenna for it?"

"Deeks, stop being a child," growled Kensie, crossing her arms and glaring at him when it was obvious that he was having too much fun playing keep away. She just hoped that her physical reaction to leaning against him to reach for her clock wasn't as noticeable. "Put it back."

"Shouldn't this be in a museum?" Deeks was thoroughly enjoying watching Kensie pout, not to mention the way she leaned against him when she reached for her clock.

"Where did you get this thing? I'm thinking the Smithsonian is missing one of its exhibits. Do you think that they have their own version of NCIS to investigate any thefts of their collections?"

"Don't touch any of the dials or buttons," she warned as she prepared to strike. "Some of them are sticky, and it's kind of hard to program."

"That's fantastic!" howled Deeks with laughter. "You can disable a home security system in second, break into practically any facility, hot wire a cesna, and this thing gives you trouble?"

She grunted, and jabbed him in the stomach just hard enough to knock the wind out of him so that she could reach her clock. Unfortunately, when grabbing it she accidentally pressed one of the buttons and the racket it made startled Deeks enough for him to let go. It took Kensie a minute to pound the alarm into submission and silence. When it was done, she looked up at Deeks and the look of incredulity made her laugh out loud.

"What the hell Kens, the sound that _that_ thing makes verges on unholy," he declared in astonishment. "It's like, listening to R2D2 being tortured!"

"Hey, it was a gift." she said defensively, placing the alarm clock gingerly on its rightful place on her nightstand.

"I don't know what I find more shocking, that you kept it or that someone actually gave it to you as a gift," he teased. "Who gives something like this to a friend? Wait, did the person who gave you this relic even like you?"

He laughed at his own joke, until he saw that he was the only one who found it funny.

"Kinda tired Deeks," she muttered, standing to one side of the open door, making it obvious that it was time for him to go.

"Kens, oh come on! I was just kidding," he said, giving her his best charm smile, until he realized that the alarm clock from hell was special to her for some reason. "I mean, it's kinda cool in a retro way I guess-"

"Thanks for checking in on me Deeks, but it's getting late-I wanna get some sleep." she reiterated, looking away from him.

Deeks sighed, knowing that somehow, somewhere he had gone too far, he just didn't know how or where. He left, knowing that in the morning they would most likely pretend that whatever happened didn't happen.

She locked up after Deeks, turned off the television and tumbled into bed, the question that Deeks had jokingly posed to her, haunting her sleep for several nights to come.

"_Did the person who gave you this relic even like you?_"

With a sigh, the sunlight creeping over the horizon brought her back to the present. She shook her head and got up out of bed to start the day.

"_Did the person who gave you this relic even like you?_"

She hopped into the shower, and as she tilted her face towards the stream of hot water, she realized that she had been asking herself that question since she met the guy, and was still trying to figure out the answer.


End file.
